Archive for February, 2010
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0 3M and Patient Care Technology Systems Collaborate on State-of-the-Art Automated Hand Hygiene Solution to Improve Compliance
Feb 26, 2010. Press Releases.RTLS data monitors patients, caregivers and equipment for regulatory compliance and infection-containment protocols
ST. PAUL, MN and CHARLOTTE, NC— Friday, February 26, 2010 —3M and Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSLR), today announced that they have signed an agreement to bring a state-of-the-art automated hand hygiene compliance solution to healthcare customers globally.
“The agreement with PCTS combines their industry-leading technology with our proven expertise in hand hygiene, and strengthens our goal of reducing hospital acquired infections and improving patient outcomes,” said Debra Rectenwald, division vice president, 3M Infection Prevention. “Together, PCTS and 3M will bring an innovative solution to market that helps our healthcare customers better meet stringent regulatory and reporting requirements.”
The system will be based on PCTS’ Amelior 360° Hand Hygiene™ module, a hand hygiene compliance solution designed for hospitals, surgical centers, clinics, and health care facilities. Using real-time locating system (RTLS) technology and specialized hand hygiene dispenser attachments, the technology includes PCTS’ tracking and workflow orchestration engine, which automatically and continuously evaluates staff members’ hand hygiene activities throughout a patient encounter. Caregivers are notified when they have or have not complied with appropriate protocols.
The system also alerts supervisory personnel to coaching opportunities when a caregiver repeatedly fails to comply with hand hygiene guidelines during a shift, or when a worker’s failure to comply with hand hygiene guidelines for one patient may cross-contaminate a different patient.
“3M is a worldwide leader in technology and healthcare innovation, and through our collaboration we will be able to extend the reach of hand hygiene compliance automation,” said Tony Marsico, president and chief executive officer of PCTS. “With more focus on reduction of HAIs than ever before, our new technology will help healthcare facilities worldwide improve communication, enhance coordination, streamline process flow, and most importantly, improve hand hygiene compliance.”
An upcoming conference in Atlanta, Ga., will feature interactive demonstrations of the Amelior 360° Hand Hygiene compliance system by PCTS and 3M. PCTS will demonstrate the system in its booth (#1021) at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems (HIMSS) Conference taking place March 1-4, 2010.
About 3M Infection Prevention Division
The 3M Infection Prevention Division offers healthcare professionals leadership solutions to minimize the risks of healthcare-associated infections. Combining science and technology, 3M has introduced more than 40 distinct technology platforms and a comprehensive portfolio of quality products that help the healthcare industry define and address current infection prevention best practices. 3M Infection Prevention remains a trusted partner committed to helping customers lead the way in reducing the risk of infection. For more information, please visit www.3M.com/infectionprevention.
About 3M Health Care
3M Health Care, one of 3M’s six major business segments, provides world-class innovative products and services to help healthcare professionals improve the practice, delivery and outcome of patient care in medical, oral care, drug delivery and health information markets. Learn more at www.3m.com/healthcare.
About Patient Care Technology Systems
Patient Care Technology Systems, a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSLR), helps health care providers to improve patient flow, increase capacity and improve patient and staff safety by visualizing the real-time location and status of patients and equipment throughout their facility. Proven return on investment in high turnover, high acuity departments such as the emergency department and perioperative suite where PCTS solutions support 2 million patient visits annually. The Amelior Enterprise Visibility Suite™ is compatible with all leading locating technologies including active-RFID, infrared, ultrasound, ultra-wideband, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. PCTS customers have been recognized nationally for improvements in efficiency and clinical excellence. For more information, visit www.pcts.com.
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1 Do you know what today is?
Feb 17, 2010. Government Initiatives, Grants, Health Information Technology.One year ago today, the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) was signed into act. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which is part of ARRA, authorized the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to develop $2 billion worth of new programs to help providers become meaningful users of EHRs and to pave the way for the creation of an advanced electronic health information system. On top of the incentive program that will reimburse qualified physicians who purchase, implement and meaningfully use a certified EHR system, additional programs have been created, such as workforce grants and the establishment of Regional Extension Centers (RECs).
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0 $1 Billion in Federal Funding Awarded to Support HIT and Healthcare Workforce
Feb 16, 2010. Government Initiatives, Health Information Technology.On February 12th, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to first, assist health care providers in the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT); and second, train the future healthcare and HIT workforce. The awards will help states increase the accessibility of HIT resources for over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands to meet the growing demand for careers in health care and information technology.
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0 2009 PQRI Deadline Looms
Feb 15, 2010. Today.February 21st is the last day you can apply for 2009 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) funding. PQRI awards a bonus equal to 2% of the total amount you billed to Medicare/Medicaid throughout the year. If you’re a health care provider you are almost certainly eligible for this money. Don’t let the window lapse! It’s not too late. An average GP can compile a PQRI report in a few hours. Those using Electronic Heath Record systems (EHRs) can do it even faster.
The concept, at least, is simple:
PQRI requirements apply to services billed under a certain set of CMS claim codes. You create a report based on the eligible claim codes you used during the year. PQRI dictates how frequently each claim code can appear on the report- codes linked to periodic care for chronic conditions, like diabetes mellitus, can be reported perhaps only once per year per patient; whereas codes linked to specific care for acute conditions, like heart attack or stroke, can be reported as many times as you used them. Once you have the report, you assess whether or not you met the PQRI care requirements associated with each claim code on your report. Your rating will be a ratio of the all requirements you met to all the claim codes you listed.
Easy, right? Much more so when a computer does it for you. EHRs have awesome reporting capabilities, and as EHRs increase in strength and prevalence, quality assessment practices of every stripe will become standard throughout the industry. So cash in while incentives are still being offered!
Click here for step-by-step 2009 PQRI reporting instructions. The CMS PQRI portal has additional information and resources, including a toolkit. The AMA also has a resource page and toolkit.
If you’re not sure you can pull a 2009 PQRI report out of your hat by yourself, consider consulting an EHR technician- even if you’re not currently using an EHR. Many EHR providers are offering PQRI-related support. There are also services available online, for a fee. If you think you’ll qualify for a large bonus, hiring a consultant might be worth the expense.
Act quickly. You’ve already earned it- go ahead and claim it! If you decide not to try for 2009, think ahead to 2010. Failing to participate in PQRI might disqualify you for other forms of funding (it will almost certainly be a prerequisite for participation in the ARRA program rewarding the “meaningful use” of EHRs, for instance). Don’t miss out. Start the process today!
Maria Nicholas
Technical Writer
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0 New Program Uses Mobile Technology to Promote Maternal and Child Health
Feb 11, 2010. Government Initiatives, News.For many, the focus on Health IT and EHRs is on physician’s offices and hospitals, but there are major implications for Health IT in community efforts to improve population health. One new program is utilizing mobile technology to promote maternal and child health.
The program,Text4baby, was announced last week by federal chief technology officer and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Aneesh Chopra. Text4baby is a free service supported by major wireless carriers, which sends medical information weekly via SMS messages to subscribers. The text messages are designed to promote mother and child health through the baby’s first year.
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0 mHealth?
Feb 8, 2010. Health Information Technology.There’s a new buzz word in Health Information Technology: mHealth. mHealth is the term used to describe mobile health, which differs from eHealth. eHealth focuses on technologies to change healthcare, while mHealth focuses on consumers’ behavioral and structural changes to foster participatory healthcare.
In e-Health, the vision is that computers will increase the efficiencies of healthcare processes. mHealth, in contrast, is patient-centered, and focuses on utilizing mobile devices/technology to collect data through text, images, emails . However, it is unlikely that consumers will adopt mHealth on their own. For mHealth to truly thrive, health providers must adopt this technology first.
Last week in Washington D.C., The Mobile Health Initiative (mHI) event took place. mHI founders Peter Waegmann and Claudia Tessier were keynote speakers. Mr. Waegmann is also the founder of the Medical Records Institute. In his keynote presentation, he suggests that mHealth may take 15 or 20 years to catch on, but the mHealth revolution “will happen.” He makes a critical point that mobile systems are just enablers of change; they are not creating the changes. To create change the healthcare system at large must adopt, integrate, and utilize mHealth technologies so that patients/consumers will see the value of these tools.
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1 Personal Health Records are Still the Future
Feb 3, 2010. Today.A few years ago, anticipating changes that would inevitably follow federal requirements, several major players entered the Personal Health Record (PHR) market, notably Google and Revolution Health. Well, today we learn the Revolution Health application is folding…and Google is engaged in a public relations struggle after media reports linking use of their application to several medical errors.
These applications were targeted directly to patients, not health care providers. Patients today are a. entrenched in the current system, never before having been asked to maintain their own records, b. not knowledgeable about medical data and how to interpret it, and c. largely wary of technology. Those who aren’t wary may be cynical about the compatibility of PHR data between providers. It’s hardly surprising they’ve been slow to adopt.
So the initial ventures appear to be faltering…but don’t be deceived. We are hurtling towards a PHR-based records model. As more providers meet the national Electronic Health Record (EHR) conversion deadline, the PHR model will make logistical sense. It makes common sense as well. Think about it: Americans move on average every six years. They traverse a field littered with specialists and urgent care facilities. The only common denominator in the health history of a modern patient is the patient themselves.
To wit, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aggressively promoting PHRs among Medicare/Medicaid clients, and patient advocates have never stopped beating the drum. The question is not whether, but when and how PHRs will catch fire.
It might pay you to be ahead of the curve. Established so many times, so many ways: electronic records save money. A patient with a PHR costs $0 in administrative overhead. You won’t have to pay your staff to chase down hospital lab results or spend time on the phone verifying insurance information. Plug it in, press a button and everything will be right in front of you. Press another button and send it to any other provider or pharmacy anywhere, instantly.
If that doesn’t sway you, the government is sweetening the deal. HHS will distribute billions of dollars this year in stimulus funding to health care providers who put EHR systems to what they call “meaningful use”. Last week the officer in charge of the program, Joshua Seidman, expressly stated integrating PHRs into your record system can help you qualify.
Steven Schiff, a California cardiologist, posted in favor of PHRs at the Huffington Post yesterday. A longtime user of EHR technology, he addressed a common concern about the future of progress notes…well worth a look.
For a more wonkish and thorough evaluation of the value of PHRs, you can download the Center for Information Technology Leadership (CiTL) PHR research report.
-Maria Nicholas
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0 Mobile Healthcare – There’s a New Platform in Town
Feb 3, 2010. Press Releases.Voalté® Announces Support For Apple iPad, Integration Available by Apple Ship Date
SARASOTA, Fla. February 3, 2010 – Voalté®, the leader in Point-of-Care communication technology, today announced its Voalté One solution will be available on the Apple iPad platform. The application brings cutting edge communication technology to nurses and other point-of-care workers.
Voalté (nomenclature derived from Voice, Alarm, Text) currently consolidates all three functions on the versatile iPhone platform. The first-of-its-kind application enables users to send and receive text messages, make voice calls, and receive critical care alarms on the iPhone, providing faster response times to patient needs.
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0 What EHR Executives are Saying about Proposed 'Meaningful Use' Criteria
Feb 3, 2010. Government Initiatives, Health Information Technology, Insight.The HIS Talk Practice Blog has recently completed an interesting series, asking six specific questions to leading EHR vendor executives regarding the Federal government’s recent announcement on the latest proposed meaningful use definitions and EHR certification criteria. Ten major EHR companies provided responses, including:
- Allscripts – Glen Tullman, CEO
- eClinicalWorks – Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder
- Eclipsys – Philip M. Pead, President and CEO
- e-MDs – Michael Stearns, President and CEO
- GE Healthcare – Vishal Wanchoo, President and CEO, GE Healthcare IT
- InteGreat, a MED3OOO Company – Tom Skelton, President
- McKesson – Dave Henriksen, SVP and GM, Physician Practice Solutions
- NextGen Healthcare – Scott Decker, President
- Sage – Lindy Benton, Chief Operating Officer
- SRSsoft – Evan Steele, CEO
Each of these executive’s responses to the six questions were interesting and varied. Some answered questions with great detail, some with ‘fluff,’ and others avoided answering the question altogether. Some provided what seemed to be honest personal opinion, and others took the opportunity to plug their company’s EHR product. I focused in on five questions- parts one, two, four, five, and six- of the series. Each of the questions and my impression of the responses are summarized below.
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0 Physicians are Bait for ‘Spearphishing’ of Digitized Health Information
Feb 2, 2010. Health Information Technology.As more and more physicians and hospitals transition into the digital age, a vast amount of personal health data is ‘bait’ in the internet phishing world. While EHR system security is often a top priority, there is little secure hosting and encrypting of health information can do to stop email phishing scams.
It’s as simple as this:
- A faculty physician at a large university health system receives an e-mail appearing to be from the hospital’s information technology staff.
- The e-mail requests the doctor’s login information in order to perform routine security upgrades to the system.
- This seems like a legitimate request from a reliable source; the physician replys back providing his/her login and password.
